TENSIONS between young white gangs and youths of mainly Middle Eastern origin erupted on one of Australia’s most popular beaches yesterday in what police condemned as a racially motivated rally driven by a mob mentality.

Thousands of people, many chanting racial slurs, were engaged in running battles on Cronulla Beach in Sydney’s southern suburbs.

At least 13 people were hurt, including five police, and 12 were arrested during the clashes, which followed a week of mounting anger over an attack on two lifeguards who were beaten up by a gang of Lebanese youths.

Furious locals, many wielding empty beer bottles and waving Australian flags, shouted anti-Middle Eastern slogans as they marched across the sand, on which was written “100 per cent Aussie pride”.

One white teenager had the words “We grew up here, you flew here” painted across his back. As the crowd moved along the beach and foreshore, one man on the back of a truck shouted: “No more Lebs [Lebanese]”, a chant picked up by the group around him. Others carried Australian flags and dressed in Australian sports shirts.

Up to 150 police officers were drafted in to cope with the 5,000-strong crowd, many of whom roamed the beach and side streets in vigilante fashion.

Two girls of Middle Eastern appearance were pushed to the ground and pelted with bottles as police tried to rescue them.

By mid-afternoon word spread that a Lebanese gang was arriving at the nearby railway station. Some members of the mob jumped on a train where they looked for anybody of vaguely Middle Eastern appearance. They found two men whom they began to beat before police intervened with batons and formed a human chain around the station.

In a separate incident, two paramedics were injured as they tried to rescue a group of Lebanese youths who had sought sanctuary in the Cronulla Surf Lifesaving club.

The mob smashed windows and kicked at doors, while others stomped on police vehicles and parked cars. Officers fought back with pepper spray and batons, bringing a semblance of calm to the area by late afternoon.

Last night, violence flared in at least six Sydney suburbs in retaliation for the Cronulla clashes. In nearby Brighton-le-Sands, an Australian flag was reported to have been taken off a building and burnt.

The violent clashes followed weeks of rising racial tension in the beachside suburb, which is popular with thousands of Middle Eastern families from Sydney’s mainly ethnic outer areas at the weekend. Locals have accused some of them, particularly visiting Lebanese youths, of being disrespectful to white women and other beachgoers.

Following the attacks on the volunteer lifeguards, a mobile telephone text campaign started, backed up by frenzied discussions on weblogs, calling on Cronulla locals to rally to protect their beach.

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